Life as a professional football player tends to move quickly, but Claire Walsh's recent milestone is one worth slowing down to celebrate.
The 30-year-old became our most recent centurion in our Scottish Cup semi-final win against Motherwell last weekend. But like her club and country counterpart Emily Whelan, who also recently reached the milestone, the Republic of Ireland international was so focused on her team’s fortunes on the pitch that the individual moment took some time to sink in.
Yet learning to enjoy her individual achievements is something Walsh – who could next be in action for City when we host Celtic at Petershill Park on Sunday afternoon – is certainly aiming to do better at.
Get your ticket for this weekend's match against Celtic, which is our penultimate match at the Peasy this season, here.
“I’m really proud to reach 100 games,” Walsh told us. “I’ve been here for a few years now. It’s a great club, so it’s a really proud moment.”
Walsh continued: “When you get so used to the day-to-day of football, you don’t really think about these moments and milestones.
“But, it’s when you take a step back – and I’ve had the chance to do that over the last couple of years because of injury – that it feels really special to be standing here right now and having played 100 games.
“The success that we have had as a club and getting to play together – I don’t take it for granted. I’ve definitely been guilty of it in the past, but when I got injured, it really made me think that you need to be grateful for it.
“It’s about taking a moment to realise that what we get to do every day is class. I’m really proud of it.”
Leanne Ross and her side will go into Sunday’s Scottish Women’s Premier League match against Celtic with momentum behind them thanks to an important 1-0 win over Rangers at Ibrox in midweek.
The stadium has been a happy hunting ground for City in recent years and gave Walsh one of her favourite memories at the club - when we won the SWPL title on the final day of the campaign in 2022/23.
“It has to be Ibrox in 2023 when we won the league,” Walsh replied when we asked about her standout moments to date. “I have such good memories of that day.
“I missed when we played Rangers here earlier this season through an injury, so the last time I was on that pitch before Wednesday night was when we won the league.
“I was absolutely buzzing to come back here and to get another great result. Hopefully, we can take it and bring the positive feeling into the next game this weekend against Celtic.”
Much like the 2022/23 season, this title race is set to go down to the wire. City go into this weekend’s match at the Peasy sitting second with 64 points – three behind leaders Hibernian and two ahead of third-placed Rangers – and with four games to go.
And whilst Celtic trail behind, sitting fourth with 59 points, they cannot be ruled out, nor can their ability to have a say on who might lift the league trophy later this month.
“The title race absolutely keeps going,” Walsh explained. “But it’s one game at a time, and that is the approach that we have taken since the start of the season, and especially since the split.
“We don’t get too far ahead of ourselves. It was a good result against Rangers during the week, but we all know that it is just another game and another three points.
“We will get our heads down, recover and be ready for Celtic because these games come around quickly.
“Celtic are a good team. We’ve always had a close game against them, especially this season. We expect another battle and for some good football to be played by both teams. We’ll be ready for Sunday.”